Title: Disciples step out in faith, approve new unity recommendation
Date: January 27, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
99c-3
ST. LOUIS (DNS) -- The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) joined eight other Protestant communions in the unanimous approval of new Christian unity recommendations and a plan to combat racism at the 18th Plenary of the Consultation on Christian Union, Jan. 20-24.
The communions of the consultation are: the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the International Council of Community Churches, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Each communion will present the recommendations to its governing body for consideration and official action.
The recommendations in the final plenary report call for the inauguration of a new relationship called Churches Uniting in Christ during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January 2002. The communions that decide to join in the 2002 public declaration and liturgical celebration would commit to expressing their new relationship in nine visible ways:
Several of these marks have already been claimed by the consultation churches over the past 15 years. This new relationship gathers them up in a comprehensive and focused way.
Key issues
The Call to Christian Commitment and Action to Combat Racism component of the Plenary report maintains that "the sin of racism is the most divisive issue confronting Churches Uniting in Christ. The Plenary names racial justice as a primary hallmark of this new relationship."
The 18th Plenary called on the consultation communions to make strategic anti-racism commitments and to implement them together. They include: continuing to make a compelling theological case against racism; sharing information on how each communion is combating racism; claiming Martin Luther King, Jr., Day observances for dialogue leading to change; witnessing against racism in worship; strengthening Christian education on the demands of racial justice; rigorous self-examination for racism in the member churches and goals for measuring progress toward dismantling institutional racism; human rights and criminal justice reform advocacy; and addressing racism toward new immigrant groups.
The report calls for a "jointly-sponsored analytical study of the workings and effects of systematic white skin color privilege in America." It also recommends a meeting soon of persons responsible for racial justice ministries in their respective communions and other leaders to "explore the implications of injustice and suggest future actions." A later meeting of the consultation churches would identify action they can take together.
The 1995 General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) approved the foundational documents that emerged from more than 25 years of discussion of the theology of Christian unity among members of the Consultation on Church Union. The Rev. Robert K. Welsh, president of the Disciples Council on Christian Unity, said a 2001 Disciples General Assembly vote in favor of the new report and recommendations "would approve how we will set those (foundational) documents to music in the life of the church. The understanding in the Churches Uniting in Christ report is that the initiative will be from the congregations -- joining with the whole church in these endeavors and not something that is imposed top-down.'"
Welsh thinks the consultation made three key affirmations that promise to move the participating communions beyond the talking stage toward action on visible unity. The communions that approve the plenary recommendations would affirm that "Yes, there is a full commitment to move together in a new relationship in the future. With that new relationship, there's a commitment to even greater unity as we live together and work together on the issues still before us. And the breakthrough point in our new commitment is the common focus on dealing with racial justice within our churches, between our churches and in society," the CCU president observed.
The most vexing of the unsettled issues has been clergy oversight and decision-making authority. The nine consultation communions have different traditions in those areas. It has always been the goal of the consultation to work it out so that all the communions have ordained ministries that correspond to three categories: bishop, presbyter and deacon -- even if they don't employ those titles in exactly the same way. Working that out is called reconciliation of ministries.
The recommendation of the 18th COCU Plenary is to live with, for the time being, the mutual recognition of ministry -- but to work toward reconciliation by the year 2007. Even with that provision, the Episcopal Church delegation, while voting in favor of the Plenary recommendations, said it could not present them to its General Convention until the reconciliation of ministries question is clarified. Not only is the Episcopal Church deeply rooted in the three-fold ministry and the apostolic succession of bishops, those concepts are the foundation of its ecumenical discussions outside of COCU.
"What the Episcopalians want to know is that we're serious about reconciliation, and that we're at least open to receiving the gift of apostolic succession and we're serious about having a recognizable three-fold ministry," said the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, director, Center for Lay Education and Ecumenical Leadership, Lexington, Ky., and a plenary report drafter.
The plenary report instructs the COCU executive committee to initiate theological discussion on the order of ministry and clergy oversight and decision-making. The nine member communions are hopeful that the discussions will begin very soon -- and will give the Episcopalians enough clarity to take the new report to their General Convention in 2000. That could allow the Episcopal Church to participate in the 2002 inauguration of the Churches Uniting in Christ.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) delegation voted in favor of the plenary report without comment on a previously voiced theological difficulty with the title and function of a "bishop" resting on a single person. In the Presbyterian Church, oversight authority resides in bodies called "presbyteries," not with one person. "That [theological discussion] could [also] leave open for the Presbyterians that other forms of episcopal oversight could be recognized," Kinnamon said.
If any of the churches are unable to participate in the 2002 inauguration, the new plenary document would invite them to "be partners in continuing relationship." Short of the public declaration and liturgical celebration, these communions would be encouraged to express as many of the visible marks of unity as possible.
New thought on "covenanting councils"
The 18th Plenary recognized varying degrees of resistance, identified in the official actions of the consultation churches, to the earlier call for local covenanting councils to coordinate ecumenical activities and commitments in regions and among congregations. The 18th Plenary report recommendations modify the council idea -- calling instead for "structures of mutual empowerment and accountability." The phrase acknowledges that not all communities need or want a narrowly defined council. "The aim is to provide forms appropriate to the local situation and to the specific tasks in which the churches in that place are involved," the report says. The chief recommendations for the formation of local ecumenical groups among the Churches Uniting in Christ are broader and brief. The groups should be diverse, inclusive, and visible. The plenary report says the COCU Executive Committee is to help make this clear for congregations and regional bodies.
Whatever they're named, the local groups will foster visible unity by coordinating regular joint mission projects; shared worship, pulpit exchanges and exchanges of church representatives for baptisms and other sacramental observances; mutual struggle against racism; programs that teach about the other churches; and participation by delegated members in the life of a partner church's congregation. Nothing in the new recommendations would stand in the way of congregations fostering or continuing ecumenical initiatives or relationships with communions not part of Churches Uniting in Christ.
The Consultation on Church Union has been underway since 1962. The January 1999 recommendations mean "We would be committing ourselves to a new relationship that's no longer simply dialogue (consultation) but a living relationship to manifest our unity in Christ," Welsh said.
"I believe it will help us present a united face of the Gospel to a culture that suffers from brokenness and disunity -- and which has a hard time hearing the Gospel from divided witnesses," said the Rev. Richard L. Hamm, Disciples general minister and president, and a consultation delegate.
18th Plenary keynote speaker Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), said the central question of the St. Louis meetings was "Are you committed to the covenant and promise of unity ... or are you not?" Hoyt suggested that unity among the nine consultation churches is like childbirth. He hoped the baby that finally is born would have "features of each of us without being an exact replica of any of us."
"We're committed to giving birth to this baby!" said CME Bishop Nathaniel Lindsey.
-- end --